|
Al Ysrael remembers over 50 years of business and friendship with late Edward Calvo
Tomorrow the island will bid a final farewell to former senator Edward M. Calvo, who passed away on September 14 after battling cancer. His friendship with local businessman Al Ysrael spans more than a half-century.
More than just business partners on more than 100 different ventures, Ysrael considered Calvo his best friend. "Over the years we became not only good friends; Eddie became my best friend - my partner - and I felt very, very close to him," he says, reflecting.
Ysrael recalls meeting Calvo at the Old Office Restaurant in Anigua, recalling how Calvo started working for his father Jake. He was a good son who started at the bottom and worked his way to the top of his family's business. Little did Ysrael know at the time that eventually Calvo would become his business rival. "Believe it or not he drove me out of business in the bowling alley business in Guam. I once had a monopoly on the island, he came and opened up his 10-pin business and he drove me out of business, the miserable guy," he mused.
But with all disagreements comes forgiveness and the two eventually would meet up again, joining forces on numerous projects throughout Guam. Calvo was the dealmaker, the charmer, Ysrael was the detail guy, with millions of dollars in deals done all on a simple handshake between the two. Says Ysrael, "Nobody can believe it that we don't have any documents between us."
According to Ysrael, while they didn't see eye-to-eye on every deal that was done, the bond between the two prominent businessmen was built on compromise. It's almost as if the two were inseparable. Ysrael says Calvo's work ethic was comparable to none, likening it to magic, saying Calvo outsmarted any businessman that came his way. "But as a business man, everybody talks about Donald Trump, but no one west of Los Angeles could match Eddie," Ysrael said. "He was the master of deal-making, that was his middle name."
|